U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited PostSecondary Institutions and Programs

The accreditation database is brought to you by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education. Each of the postsecondary educational institutions and programs contained within the database is, or was, accredited by an accrediting agency or state approval agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a “reliable authority as to the quality of postsecondary education” within the meaning of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The database does not include a number of postsecondary educational institutions and programs that elect not to seek accreditation but nevertheless may provide a quality postsecondary education.

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies, which are private educational associations of regional or national scope, develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency's evaluation and that meet an agency's criteria are then "accredited" by that agency. The U.S. Department of Education does not accredit educational institutions and/or programs. However, the Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies that the Secretary determines to be reliable authorities as to the quality of education or training provided by the institutions of higher education and the higher education programs they accredit. The U.S. Secretary of Education also recognizes State agencies for the approval of public postsecondary vocational education and State agencies for the approval of nurse education. The Secretary of Education’s recognition of accrediting agencies is limited by statute to accreditation activities within the United States. Although many recognized agencies carry out accrediting activities outside the United States, these actions are not within the legal authority of the Department of Education to recognize, are not reviewed by the Department, and the Department does not exercise any oversight over them. Consequently, institutions and programs outside the United States that are accredited by recognized agencies are not included in the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs. The U.S. Department of Education recommends that the database be used as one source of qualitative information and that additional sources of qualitative information be consulted. The database is compiled entirely from publicly available information obtained by the U.S. Department of Education from recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies. The U.S. Department of Education cannot, therefore, guarantee that the information contained in the database is accurate, current, or complete. The U.S. Department of Education will periodically update the database to reflect additional information the Department receives from recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies but makes no guarantee that the database will be updated immediately upon receipt of such information. The database is provided as a public service without warranty of any kind. The database does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any of the educational institutions or programs. If you experience problems with the Institutional Accreditation System, contact the help desk at AccreditedSchoolsList@westat.com or 1-888-247-8269. For more information on accreditation in the United States, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.